DeWeese confident to not be vindicated in legislative bonus investigation

July 17, 2008

HARRISBURG — House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese said Wednesday he is confident he will be vindicated in the legislative bonus investigation and intends to remain leader of the House Democratic caucus.

DeWeese, D-Greene, has not been charged with any crime in a public corruption investigation that resulted in charges against 12 people last week, but the question now is whether he can survive as floor leader — or even win re-election.

“For him personally and for the good of the institution and the good of the Democratic caucus, I hope he steps aside,” said Rep. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne.

DeWeese said the grand jury reports show that his response to the scandal has been appropriate.

“I feel this report vindicates me and I really believe that our leadership team for the last 17 months has handled this terrible crisis in the best way conceivable,” he said.

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He said he hopes to run for speaker with a Democratic majority despite the charges state prosecutors filed against his former chief of staff and a trusted former lieutenant for allegedly misappropriating public money to wage campaigns and enrich themselves. A sitting Democratic representative and nine other current or former caucus employees also were charged with theft, conspiracy and conflicts of interest.

DeWeese maintains he was unaware of the crimes his underlings allegedly committed. When asked by the AP how such efforts could have gone on under his nose, he pointed to a portion in the grand jury report that describes the secrecy measures that the defendants allegedly took.

The two-year session ends in November, and there are signs that DeWeese may face a tough fight to remain at the head of the caucus.

Yudichak and Rep. Bill Keller said Wednesday that they called for DeWeese to be replaced as leader during a private caucus retreat held earlier this year but did not talk publicly about their position until Wednesday. Keller suggested DeWeese may have been too detached a supervisor.

“The leader who says he wasn’t aware of what was going on is not a leader and should step down and get out of the way,” said Keller, D-Philadelphia.

Yudichak said a leadership reorganization “could very well happen” in September — the waning days of the session — if DeWeese has not resigned as leader.

“I think that there are very long odds that he survives as a leader this fall, and virtually no opportunity going into the next legislative session,” Yudichak said.

DeWeese said both men have long been his critics, and noted he was elected majority leader by a 90-12 vote two years ago.

DeWeese also faces a tough re-election challenge from Republican candidate Greg Hopkins, who lost by 5.4 percentage points to him in 2006.

, the first legislative race since the ill-fated pay raise that DeWeese championed and a bad year for incumbents.

Even though the House Democrats won back the majority after 12 years on the outs, DeWeese was unable to unite the caucus to elect him as speaker. Instead, he helped broker a deal with the Republicans that catapulted GOP Rep. Dennis O’Brien of Philadelphia into the presiding officer’s seat.

“I don’t believe anybody can save Bill now,” Keller said. “I would imagine if this starts to take on speed then Dwight and Keith would have to sit down to make sure it’s one fell swoop to make sure we have an organized transition.”

DeWeese is emphasizing the internal House reforms he supported over the past year, the party’s legislative accomplishments and the response he organized to the bonus scandal that has included a policy of cooperation with the investigation and having a high-priced consultant oversee ethics training.

He said that until the charges were announced on Thursday, he did not know that the lawmaker charged, Beaver County Rep. Sean Ramaley, was in legal jeopardy or that his former chief of staff, Mike Manzo, was accused of hiring his girlfriend Angela Bertugli in a job with very little work.

“I was not aware of the friendship being anything other than professional. She’s a fine young person who made a mistake, but is blessed with one of the finest families among all of my acquaintances,” he said.

DeWeese ally Rep. Mark Cohen of Philadelphia echoed the comments of many others in noting DeWeese has the presumption of innocence, particularly given that he is not accused of any crime. He acknowledged there is some support for replacing DeWeese but not a majority.

Rep. Dave Levdansky, the Finance Committee chairman, described the handful of members he has spoken with since the arrests as “shocked. They’re hurt, they’re angry, they’re upset. And they’re concerned, absolutely.”